I have a daylily border in my front flower bed, which has been there for about 3 maybe 4 years. The past several years we had blooms, not profuse, but definite blooms. This year, however, we have had zero. I'm pretty irritated about it. This border hasn't even filled in all the way yet, so I don't think being too full and needing dividing is the issue. (but I'm no expert here) Has anyone else experienced this, or know what the problem could be?

I would imagine they had plenty of rain water. How many daily hours of sun do they get?
How many plants do you have? My border plants get some morning shade from the house and late shade from tall shrubs and trees on the west, so 6 hours of sun and they bloom heavily for me. Too little sun would be the only excuse for non bloom or poor bloom.

Sometimes plants take a year off. I don't know why. Becky Lynn had bloomed for years but a couple of years ago just stopped. The next year it had a few wimpy blooms. This year it was pretty much back to normal. As long as the fans look fine I wouldn't worry too much about it. You might try giving it a bit extra fertilizer to give it boost this fall.

Codie do you have the names of the daylilies that you planted by the border ?

Any chance you can take a picture of one or two of the plants for us? Maybe you have a pest or something someone might recognize from the foliage.

Elena is right that sometimes plants will take a break some years. It seems odd that a whole border full of plants wouldn't go, though. And you haven't moved them in 3-4 years... Have they steadily deteriorated each year?

I would agree with Terry could be lack of sun. Have you had a tree that grew and is now shading your border more? Lack of water could do it. Also what is your soil like? Might need some top dressing or fertilizer like Elena mentioned, or they just might not like your growing zone so they are not happy and are dwindling away?
Pictures might be helpful.

Finally got some pictures taken of my daylily border. Sorry it took a few days.
I'm beginning to think it's a lighting issue, because my azaleas are a bit leggy.

I love that space, Codie. Light is definitely an issue with daylilies. The only other thing I can think of is, I use a similar looking mulch in my garden beds, too. I think it's a good idea to push it back away from the crowns on the daylilies a few inches. In the second picture, the middle two look a little unhappy. They don't do well if you plant them too deep, and it could be my imagination, but I think they also can struggle if the mulch is too deep right up next to the plants.

Good luck!

How big were those plants when planted? Just looking at the photo the plants look small, but it looks like quite a few fans in the small clumps. Are these plants now smaller than they were when originally planted? Being they are 3 to 4 years old I would expect them to be way larger and to have filled in that border completely by now. So I am thinking more sun and more water with a little fertilizer will fix the problem.

I do not know the names, but I wish I did.

I do have a tree, between the daylilies and the afternoon sun, that has grown a lot the past couple years. It's possible they used to get more sun than they do now.

And the mulch idea is a good one. This bed is heavy on the mulch.

Thanks everyone, for giving me some things to think about and try! Yet another reason I love these forums.

Daylilies like sun and plenty of water, it could be that the tree is taking up a lot of water making the daylilies suffer.

Tree roots can also be invasive. They love potting soil especially when you plant from a pot.

Try some fertilizer like Hi-Bloom. Has shade increased? Maybe there was to much to begin with. Tree roots are a challenge. Are those trees giving to much shade. I'd guess that your daylilies are Stella d Oro. I see that you just joined.

I will think about (a) where to move them in the fall or (2) trimming the tree to help with increasing the sunshine. Honestly, I think everything in that flower bed could use some more sun so the tree trimming might be my best option.

Grub infestation is another possible reason. I had grubs eat the roots of several of mine last year, so they did not bloom.

Debra, speaking of grubs. I saw four Cicadas going through their transformation on one daylily plant. They probably agreed to do it in the same place
Whenever I dig up any creepy crawlers I walk them over to the bird feeder to give them a special treat.

It might not hurt to have your soil tested before dumping a bunch of chemicals on it. Some macronutrients (phosphorus, in particular ) can build up in soil and be toxic to plants. A daylily grower on the eastern seaboard had to have tons of topsoil removed from his growing fields due to over-use of phosphorus.

Here are two important links, the first has to do with "bloom" fertilizers in general.
https://www.gardenmyths.com/bl...

This will explain the fertilizer needs of daylilies in particular.
http://www.ctdaylily.com/trimm...

I agree with the too much mulch assessment. I'm also not that wild about wood chips, they don't bring much to the table. The best mulches are those that break down quickly and incorporate themselves into the soil, such as compost made from leaves and yard waste, aged stable sweepings, kitchen scraps.

It could also be that the plants have pulled themselves too deep. Daylilies can do well in a wide variety of soil types, but clay can be tricky. Heavy clay beds might need to be routinely amended, and daylilies in those beds might need a "lift and separate" every few years. If you have weed cloth or plastic under those wood chips, it can have a negative effect on soil health. The soil needs to 'breathe'.

Regarding trees, they just don't mix well with daylilies. The shade weakens them, the roots always out-compete and starve them. I'm pretty sure I read this remark on this forum, "Trees are best admired from a distance."

Let me add to the comments about tree roots starving daylilies. I just removed a small bed of daylilies because of the fine oak roots overpowering the daylilies. I was amazed at how quickly I saw those daylilies decline, they were going down so fast at one point that I finally I realized I had to move them quickly or they would all be dead. Now they are all doing much better with just one exception, and it is still struggling to recover and is down to one tiny fan after being a decent sized clump earlier in the year.
Want to make a comment about mulch also, I use tons of my own "compost' I put that in quotes because it is not the same as the compost I made years ago when I added other things. My current compost is about 99 percent shredded leaves and grass clippings.
I do use a lot of shredded leaves for mulch, put most of mine is allowed to become almost finished compost when it is added to the garden as mulch. It is good that it becomes soil quickly and helps to add nutrients, what is not good about it is that it does decompose quickly becoming part of the soil and thus loosing it's ability to block off weeds, they just grow right of top of it.
I have recently become a big fan of "Pine Bark Mulch", that is what it is sold as at the local farmers co-op, others refer to it as pine fines... finely shredded pine bark. I was told by Tim Bell that was the finest thing I could add to my soil to keep it from compacting and it makes a beautiful mulch. I am working toward adding that to all my beds, right now I can just afford to add it as I add or move individual plants. I am hoping that will take a longer time to decompose and act more as a mulch for a longer period of time and keep the weeds blocked.